The optimization of burning together with the inherent economy of fuel obtained, has been, over the years, a permanent concern of those responsible for manufacturing and/or operating heat-generating units, as well as of the suppliers of fuels, that is, the distributors of oil products. By this token, numerous papers have been developed by the involved parties, as well as in the field of emulsifying fuel oil with water. However, whether due to the operational sequence, or whether due to the process conditions adopted, in spite of the high degree of technological development reached in heat-generating equipment, relatively little progress has been reached in the last two decades in terms of fuel economy, whereas the most relevant results obtained do no more pertain changes in the fuel itself, but are due to a more accurate control of burning, obtained through the aid of computer technology. Concerning the techniques of emulsifying fuel oil and water, instant emulsification, emulsion additivation, as well an endless number of mechanical and/or chemical modification processes were developed aiming at, among other parameters, the possibility of adding, under stable conditions, larger amounts of water to emulsions, in order to obtain yields of heat at least equal to fuel oil in terms of mixture with air.
However, the most efficient known processes for hydro- emulsifying fuel oil have provided gains in heat yields at an average of about 3%, or at a maximum between around 5 and 8%, if compared with the yield by burning a perfectly adjusted air/oil mixture.
Even for those who are not familiar with the art, it must seem intuitively evident that, if adequately used, the ideal adjuvant of fuel oil in terms of costs is water.
By this token, and taking as a basis the knowledge of the art then available, the applicant, for the first time, decided to develop persevering studies with the purpose of optimizing process conditions related to each operational stage of hydro-emulsification. The records presented, for the first time, references to improved stability characteristics and heat value of hydro-oily emulsions for burning in burner nozzles of heat-generating equipment, by simply adjusting time, pressure and temperature parameters.
Although describing a hydro-oily solution burning process, including the steps of emulsifying, deaerating, conducting and pulverizing the emulsion, the most recent state of the art does not get to determine, in a clear manner, the basic conditions for the different steps in order to reach the intended results and the reactions of imperative occurrence during the pulverization steps, for it to be possible to reach an economy in different experiments.
Thus, the present invention has the basic object to provide a hydro-oily emulsion burning process at the burner nozzle of a heat-generating equipment, with a high heat yield and low implementation cost.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide a hydro-oily emulsion burning process, as described above, including a procedure for obtention and stabilization of the referred hydro-oily emulsion.
It is a further object of the current invention to provide a hydro-oily emulsion burning process, as described above, in which the referred emulsion encloses a water concentration markedly superior to the usual water concentrations obtained, associated to an equally superior heat value.